Morhekan Orbital Shipyards
The secession of the Sangheili from the Covenant was a unanimous decision, but not all aspects of it were met with joy. For the Sangheili Fleet in particular, it was a cause for consternation - the technological superiority that the Covenant enjoyed over humanity was entirely the result of Prophet study of Forerunner relics, and oversight in ship design. The Sangheili had relied upon that expertise for nearly four thousand years, losing much of their own native understanding of the technologies they employed. Without it, the Sangheili would be hard pressed to maintain their own ships, and would find construction of new ships of the same calibre nearly impossible. As such, the few remaining shipyards left to the Sangheili Armed Forces became crucial assets in their conflict against the Blood Covenant and Privateer Alliance, and their cold war against the New Covenant - while construction of new ships from scratch would elude them, many had been in the process of construction before the outbreak of the Schism, and finishing off the hulls already laid down became a priority for the Fleet - especially the shipyards over Ketesh. For the most part, the Sangheili had lost much of their scientific expertise - this is not entirely true of the Kaaranese Sangheili, who were inducted into the Covenant far more recently, and had managed to keep some of their own expertise, at least enough to finish the pre-laid hulls and modify them for the SAF's needs. After the fall of a number of Sangheili colonies, and numerous fleet engagements with Blood Covenant forces, the desperate need to maintain and replace ships damaged in the frontline meant that Ketesh became a vital asset in the war effort, and resources were poured into the shipyards in an effort to improve production and efficiency. Its destruction in 2559 proved a critical blow against the Sangheili, from which it has been difficult to recover. History While the Kaaranese Sangheili achieved spaceflight during the 20th Century C.E., and would create a number of small outposts throughout their star system, they wouldn't create a permanent space colony until 2243 on Qui'vra. In order to service the colony, a Covenant space colony was towed into place to Langrange point 2 in order to better facilitate colonial transport and supply to the lunar base. As the technological integration of Covenant equipment continued, this base eventually fell into disuse and abandonment, left in its orbit. In 2331, however, the Kaaranese League unanimously approved of a plan to convert the station into a naval shipyard, producing warships for the Covenant Navy, and the station was towed to a High Orbit over Ketesh. Today, the station maintains geosynchronous orbit above Morheka, which provided most of the resources and technical expertise in the operation, and was named accordingly, to the displeasure of the Mopadan Confederacy. While Prophets have generally had little influence on Ketesh, the need for personnel familiar with the technology required for shipbuilding was paramount to the success of the station. Hundreds of Huragok were loaned from the Ministry of Tranquility to assist in the conversion, and to carry out the construction, but for the designs the Sangheili were forced to turn to the Prophets, who installed their own representative, the Prophet of Assurance, to oversee the process. Despite all his best attempts, however, technical knowledge still passed out of the facility and to the inhabitants of Ketesh, and in 2448 a Kaaranese Sangheili was elected by the League to replace the Prophet of Assurance, taking the Prophet and the Covenant by surprise. The fact that the transition was smoothe may be an indication that the Prophets never expected a Sangheili to fully understand toe intricacies of the technology, but under Utzaq 'Joralanee the station continued to churn out warships at the same pace, and of the same quality - if anything, Utzaq's standards were far higher than the Prophets' had ever been, demanding nothing less than perfection. Under his command, the shipyards gained a reputation among the fleet for speed and efficiency, though it earned the distrust of the Prophets. In 2551, suspecting that all was not quite as it should be, Ketesh's representative to the Covenant High Council ordered the shipyards to begin construction of seven CCS-Class Cruisers, two Assault Carriers, and a dozen frigates and destroyers, intended as supplements to the Fleet of Particular Justice. As the Great Schism broke out however, Jiralhanae forces from the planetary garrison boared the shipyards, attempting to detach the incomplete ships to be towed by a Jiralhanae fleet to a friendly colony. Their attempts were halted by the Voltakran legion as it regained the shipyards, and a UNSC fleet arrived to engage the Jiralhanae fleet, giving the Sangheili enough time to send a response of their own. eventually forcing the Jiralhanae to flee to slipspace, the shipyards were deemed fully functional, and tasked with completing the hulls. With most of the ships completed by 2559, the shipyards were the target of another assult, this time by a Blood Covenant fleet. At first, the Jiralhanae attempted to simply capture the shipyards, perhaps hoping that a reinforcement fleet would pacify the planet itself, but the defending forces repelled all attempts at gaining control. Frustrated, the Jiralhanae set antimatter charges throughout the shipyard, destroying the facility rather than allow the Sangheili to continue to use it in their war against the Blood Covenant. After the War of Vengeance was formally concluded, Ketesh began construction of a second shipyard, scavenging every technical expert available on the subject of shipbuilding, including Huragok. Without understanding the principles involved, the design of entirely new ships was beyond the shipyard, but the construction of older classes of warship was still possible. The shipyard was formally activated in 2566, renamed the Kaaranese Orbital Shipyards, although it would continue to bare the emblem of the Morhekan royal family - the support of the Sangheili Armed Forces negotiated by the heir to the throne, Qur'a 'Morhek, led the League to unanimously support it. Function Quotes Category:Location Category:Covenant